Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said former President Trump does not regret having Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) on the ticket as the junior senator from Ohio faces backlash over his previous comments.
Vance has been taking heat over some previous comments he’s made about “childless cat ladies” in the days since Trump selected him to be his running mate. Graham was asked on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday whether the former president has regretted his choice in light of these comments.
“No, not at all, because JD Vance has one of the most compelling stories in American politics. When you look at his background, what he overcome early in life to be who he is,” Graham said Sunday.
“The American-first agenda will be in good hands with JD no matter who the Democrats pick, Vice President Harris picks to be her running mate, they will buy into her agenda,” he added later on.
Trump announced Vance as his running mate as the Republican National Convention kicked off earlier this month. Vance has been under fire for comments he made during a 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson, during which he said the country is being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”
The Harris campaign and Democrats have seized on these remarks, with the Harris campaign suggesting that Trump will regret his decision to choose Vance as his vice-presidential pick.
Some House Republicans expressed concerns with Vance as Trump’s running mate to The Hill, with one House Republican saying that he was the “worst choice of all the options.” The Trump campaign has defended putting Vance on the ticket, with Trump saying last week he would still choose Vance if he knew Harris would be on the top of the ticket.
“He’s fantastic,” Trump said of Vance on “Fox & Friends” last week. “No, it wouldn’t have mattered. And I thought she was probably going to happen anyway.”
“[Vance] is doing a fantastic job,” the former president continued. “He’s essentially for the worker. He’s seen the worker be horribly abused and taken advantage of … He’s doing a great job, and he’s been very well received.”